It began in Florence. The producer otherwise known as Antonio Rosselli grew up immersed in Europe's electronic music culture before making the move to Sydney several years ago. The party hasn't stopped since. Ribongia has shared stages and DJ booths with Flying Lotus, Gaslamp Killer, Opiuo, and Spoonbill amongst others, and remixed a cross section of the local music scene, everyone from Lanie Lane to Thundamentals. He's paving new paths on an upcoming national tour. To celebrate, Ribongia is sharing an exclusive mix with THUMP. It's filled with originals, edits, remixes, some Missy Elliott, some footwork rhythms, and other unidentifiable beat styles. As Ribongia says "It's a blend of what I consider to be the most fun beats to dance to, while trying to maintain my own aesthetic." It begins:Things move pretty quickly in electronic and dance music circles, what are some of the new styles you've been drawing inspiration from?
In the last few years I've been listening to a bit of footwork, I couldn't escape the phenomenon that was trap and have enjoyed looking at (what we like to call) the "Australian sound" evolve. I guess what I do is take these genres and blend them with different African sounds. Around 2012 I became pretty fascinated with African culture, which inspired a few tunes that featured African samples. Later that year I went back to Florence, where I'm originally from, and discovered that a good friend of mine, and musical hero, had started a new project called Clap! Clap! that featured a lot of ethnic African sounds. I took that as a sign and decided to press on with this new sound. While in Florence, and then later over the internet, Clap! Clap! and myself worked on some material. Some of it is on my upcoming EP, so I'm pretty excited about that!Can you tell us the story behind the titles of your two recent singles, "Save The Children" and "Slave Trade"? Is there a social and political aspect to your music here that you're keen to convey?
To be honest with you, none of the titles have a political message that I'm trying to express, just that I'm generally interested in the culture. While searching for sounds to sample I watched a heap of docos on different African tribes. I learned about the Himba tribe of Namibia, the Yoruba people of Nigeria and the Pygmies of central Congo. In Slave Trade's case the name did represent an image I had while working on the song but all I can hope for by using these titles is for people to be inspired to explore new cultures, whatever they might be. In my mind the titles like "Slave Trade", "Save The Children" and "It Began" - the title of the new EP and tour - were all drawn from that idea. If the titles have the power to spark a debate and/or remind people of historical facts, so be it. I welcome it.Last year saw the release of a remixes collection spanning a variety of local artists. Are there similar remixes/releases planned for the future? What else have you been working on?
I did think about a "Volume 2" to the local remix thing. I did just do a remix for Andy Bull, which was fun. But, at the moment I'm working towards releasing this next EP as well as a full-length album. I feel I just started a new chapter in my musical with a new sound and want to keep on exploring it for a little while.
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In the last few years I've been listening to a bit of footwork, I couldn't escape the phenomenon that was trap and have enjoyed looking at (what we like to call) the "Australian sound" evolve. I guess what I do is take these genres and blend them with different African sounds. Around 2012 I became pretty fascinated with African culture, which inspired a few tunes that featured African samples. Later that year I went back to Florence, where I'm originally from, and discovered that a good friend of mine, and musical hero, had started a new project called Clap! Clap! that featured a lot of ethnic African sounds. I took that as a sign and decided to press on with this new sound. While in Florence, and then later over the internet, Clap! Clap! and myself worked on some material. Some of it is on my upcoming EP, so I'm pretty excited about that!Can you tell us the story behind the titles of your two recent singles, "Save The Children" and "Slave Trade"? Is there a social and political aspect to your music here that you're keen to convey?
To be honest with you, none of the titles have a political message that I'm trying to express, just that I'm generally interested in the culture. While searching for sounds to sample I watched a heap of docos on different African tribes. I learned about the Himba tribe of Namibia, the Yoruba people of Nigeria and the Pygmies of central Congo. In Slave Trade's case the name did represent an image I had while working on the song but all I can hope for by using these titles is for people to be inspired to explore new cultures, whatever they might be. In my mind the titles like "Slave Trade", "Save The Children" and "It Began" - the title of the new EP and tour - were all drawn from that idea. If the titles have the power to spark a debate and/or remind people of historical facts, so be it. I welcome it.Last year saw the release of a remixes collection spanning a variety of local artists. Are there similar remixes/releases planned for the future? What else have you been working on?
I did think about a "Volume 2" to the local remix thing. I did just do a remix for Andy Bull, which was fun. But, at the moment I'm working towards releasing this next EP as well as a full-length album. I feel I just started a new chapter in my musical with a new sound and want to keep on exploring it for a little while.